


Some kind of divine sign

by Searofyr



Series: Most blessed and most cursed [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27862509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Searofyr/pseuds/Searofyr
Summary: From the journal of Riacil, Lorkhan’s chosen, pirate. Cyrodiil, at sea 2E.One of Riacil’s misadventures in his time pre-ESO on a Maormer pirate ship. Gods and Daedra get involved, as it tends to happen.Going on land is just a mistake.
Series: Most blessed and most cursed [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039801
Kudos: 4





	Some kind of divine sign

**Author's Note:**

> Originally a prompt reply:  
> Prompt: "I found you unconscious back there. What happened?" from diamond_sunstorm

I woke up on a ship and panicked for a moment till I realized it was ours. Then I panicked again till I saw the right people were on it and nobody was a prisoner or anything of that sort.

Then I allowed myself to breathe normally. Like the normal deeper intake/letting-go of breath that someone will hear, not the flat kind when your heart is racing and you’re frozen in spot with terror and nobody can know you’re conscious under any circumstances.

“Sindir,” I heard a voice that I registered belonged to Orenmid. “Our pilgrim’s awake.”

I strained my neck to look around, but a moment later Sindir was there and grabbed me by the front of my shirt and half-picked me up like he still hasn’t gotten tired of doing. “First of all,” he said, “don’t do that again. Second of all…”

Orenmid was faster: “The fuck were you doing there?”

“Where?” I asked. My memory was a blur. And by that I mean a black kind of blur with just a little bit of smudged information at the outer corners.

Sindir let go of me.

Orenmid was only too happy to elaborate: “The fucking Temple to Akatosh! We didn’t come around to those Imperial bastards’ seas for you to go to their Temple! You got a crisis or what?”

I tried hard to remember and only got a throbbing headache from it. “Temple of Akatosh, huh,” I murmured.

"Right by the altar, too,” Sindir said. “I found you unconscious back there. What happened?"

As before, Orenmid was the one to add to the story: “Do you have any idea how that looked like, couple of Maormer pirates in the Akatosh Temple? After he found you, after ages of searching, I’ll add, cause who looks in a fucking Temple, we had to go find the right clothing and all, too, and pry you away from the priests and the healers, who had no idea where you’d come from either, and insisted you were some kind of divine sign, which,” he pointed to Sindir, “I’m sure our captain here would sign all too readily, but that wasn’t helpful, you know?”

And then it all came back. “For fuck’s sake, Lorkhan,” I muttered.

I saw the grin on Sindir’s face. “Well now you’ve got to tell us.”

I tried to sit up, but he pushed me back down. “No. Down. Rest.”

“Should I rest or tell you?”

He helped me sit up and lean against a stack of crates. “There. Now tell.” He sat down opposite me.

Orenmid waved some idle crew members over. “You’re going to want to hear about this. Reason we almost got arrested or drafted into the Imperial clergy.”

I sighed, and once the listener group had assembled, I began:

“So I was out there trying to sell the stuff I was supposed to sell, and trying to listen in about market talk and guard talk and what’s what in politics right? Cause I’d _told_ you I was feeling unwell, but you didn’t care, cause you have one wood elf on board, he’s going to be the ambassador to the rest of Tamriel. So far so good.

But I’d had that seaweed stew you made, with all those fantastic fresh greens in that I’d never had, and that – that seaweed distillate, which I’ll say is _impressive_ , and I want to have that again, though maybe not quite tonight, and maybe, just maybe it was a mistake the night before that, too. Cause I’m still not incredibly used to all that plant fare yet. Takes a while. Very annoying, all my fault, I know, but didn’t change the fact that I needed somewhere to throw up. But it was a busy city, right? So where does one go? I ended up in this dingy falling-apart dockside tavern, cause nobody cares who you are when you’re throwing up distillate there, you’re just one of many.”

Sindir cracked his knuckles and shifted into a more comfortable position. “I know men don’t know anything about architecture, but that’s a bit harsh; the Temple didn’t look that bad.”

Orenmid added, “But the priests had something of drunken thugs, if you squint.”

I could continue at last:

“So the sole _trouble_ with that dockside tavern was that it was a bit _too_ dingy, and there weren’t just respectable gentlemen like us in there. It was more popular with, say, people who enjoy the making of deals. Now you could still say we’re respectable businessmen, too. But see, those people there, they took it to a _specialist_ level and kept a shrine in there to someone who watches over all kinds of business transactions between people and, typically, himself.”

Sindir buried his face in his palm. “Don’t tell me you…”

“Well I didn’t get to it at first, even if I’d wanted, cause by the time I saw the shrine there, well, it was cause other people pointed it out first, and those people were guards in civil dress who got up all at once and declared us all arrested for Daedric worship. So I called to Lorkhan, first in my mind like I do, normally that’s enough and he wakes up and notices, if he’s been sleeping, or if he’s doing stuff elsewhere, you know, our connection makes him notice and pay attention to me instead. But he must’ve been _really_ occupied or in a _really_ deep sleep, cause he didn’t respond. That happens, too. Not as often as it used to, we’re getting better at this, but still happens. Unfortunately it happened then. I muttered his name aloud, but nothing happened either. That’s usually the last resort.”

They had that ‘get on with it’ look on their faces. Right.

“So I did something maybe… not so smart? Turned to the shrine. Said, ‘Clavicus? Could you help me out here?’”

“Just for a moment,” Sindir said, “you had me convinced you didn’t actually.”

“Sorry. I’m not that smart. I needed help. Best option available on short notice. They weren’t paying me attention yet, and I tried to keep it quiet. Clavicus responded in voice with that really blurry and translucent projection, I don’t think anyone saw, but he said, ‘Oh no, I’m not touching you. I may be stupid sometimes, but I’m not that stupid.’

‘You’re not supposed to touch me,’ I said, ‘you’re just supposed to help me out of this. This situation. I’m in trouble here. They’re arresting your followers.’

He sighed. ‘They always do that. I don’t know why it’s always got to be mine. Other Princes keep their followers better hidden, I guess. And I _try_ to teach them, you know. We’re just too social; it’s a curse. Anyway, no. You’re Lorkhan’s. Sorry, you’re out of luck.’

‘But I can’t reach him,’ I said, ‘and he wouldn’t want me in Imperial prison, I bet! You’d be doing him a favour.’

‘Nice try,’ Clavicus said, ‘but I know for a fact he always throws his people into prison. _Especially_ his favourites. And those end up being the most annoying ones to the rest of us. And they’re all crazy. Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe I _should_ help you. Prevent the next disaster.’”

We didn’t get any further than this cause then a guard grabbed me and yelled about me praying to Daedra, and I said, ‘I wasn’t praying, I was trying to have a reasonable conversation,’ but that didn’t help me any. So I ended up in Imperial prison.”

There was a moment of silence on the ship as they all processed the incredible wisdom of my actions.

Orenmid said to Sindir, “Do you want to make a joke about the Temple and Imperial prison, or…”

Sindir shook his head. “I’ll pass this time. Go on. How the fuck…”

“So,” I continued, “I’d been drugged or something so I was out till I woke up there in my cell. I was in a single one. There were a few with single cells like me and two large group cells. Turned out they took me to be one of the most dangerous, who knew the most, cause they thought I’d been praying and maybe getting an answer. They wouldn’t listen to my explanations, and when I tried to tell them I only really pray to Lorkhan, they laughed and said they’d heard few lies worse than that. ‘Who prays to a dead god? Next time make it Akatosh or Mara.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ I said. ‘Does that mean you’re letting me live?’

‘Depends on how well you cooperate. If you do better than your comrades…’

I heard the screaming from another cell. Didn’t see anything and didn’t care to, either.

When they left me alone, I started praying for real, Lorkhan again.

After an eternity, he answered, just in my mind, very faintly. ‘I hear you, I hear you. Well fuck, I have to get you out of there. Well at least you’ve done that part already, we’ve got more flexibility in the future then.’

‘That part?’ I asked.

‘The prison. Nevermind that now. Alright. Let me think. I’ve got to overhaul some plans. Ah, damn it. Look. Your life won’t get any easier from this, but I’m doing it. Alright?’

‘Can’t be any worse than that,’ I said, and pointed in the direction of that other cell.

‘Right, right. ‘course I’m not allowing that. I was thinking, maybe I could spare you, too, give you an easier life, let someone else… Ah fuck. Alright.’”

– He said more, which I left out of my story for the whole crew.

He said: “Things as you know’em will end sooner or later. No way around it. I’ll need you somewhere else. Are you ready? No, doesn’t even matter if you are. No one’s ever ready, but we’ll do this, somehow. Enjoy what you’ve got for now.” –

Continuing now what I said to my crew:

“So Lorkhan announced, ‘I’m going to try something, and I haven’t done this one yet, not like that, and not recently or with you. Might go wrong. I’ll knock you out for it. Trying to get you out of here. If I fail and you die, I’ll get you to Sovngarde. Hope that can wait though and I succeed. You know, I think I want some help.’

I told him about my contacting Clavicus, and he just laughed. ‘Let’s see about that.’

I felt a brush of snake scales against me, and then he wrapped me up in snake form, and my consciousness faded. I just barely heard him bargaining with Clavicus’s voice, something about how Lorkhan will give up one of his to Clavicus, if Clavicus can convince Akatosh to, something I didn’t catch anymore, and then another voice saying, How about you give that one to Akatosh directly and leave Clavicus out of this, and it went back and forth like that between the three for a while, until I was out completely.

And then I guess you guys found me in Akatosh’s Temple, so I guess he got involved in the end. Thanks for getting me out of that, by the way. Not as bad as prison but that wouldn’t have been the best of fates either.”

To sum up the reactions, I got some stares and some headshakes and some “Wood elves,” and “Mystics,” that one is a recent one, and a “Sindir, that mer’s crazy.”

To which Sindir replied, “He’s blessed by the Serpent, of course he’s crazy, but he’s also alive. Can’t argue with results.”

In any case it was decided we’re sailing north now; everyone’s had enough of Imperial coast towns.

Maybe I want some more of that seaweed distillate after all.


End file.
